Nitish, Lalu to launch ‘shabd wapasi’ campaign against PM Modi’s DNA remark

Escalating his war of words with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his DNA barb, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday announced launch of “take back your words” campaign, saying the PM’s remark was an “insult” to the people of the state. “People are looking at him as a joke now”, the political maverick said in a tweet.

Modi had launched a scathing attack on leaders of the RJD-JD-U combine last month in a rally in Muzaffarpur as he rolled out the NDA’s campaign for assembly polls in Bihar, singling out the chief minister for criticism.

Even before PM Modi started his speech, Nitish Kumar, who termed the BJP goverment a “Union Twitter Government”, asked him on Twitter to commit no tickets to criminals.

The drive, meant to protest the prime minister’s July 25 remark about Nitish Kumar’s DNA, is scheduled to commence on Tuesday (August 11) with sit-ins across Bihar.

Adressing a rally in Gaya, Modi, who had recently described Lalu Prasad’s RJD as a party signifying “Rojana Jungle Raj Ka Dar”, coined another name for its ally JD(U) calling it “Janata ka Daman aur Utpidan (Oppression and Suppression of People)”.

“You said people come out with evil things from jail, could you please tell us what evil have your party president Amit Shah brought”, asks Lalu Prasad.

“I totally disagree with Modi’s perception that Bihar still remains a BIMARU state and to me, the state is healthy on parameters like health and education among others”, he said.

“Your comments on my DNA at a rally recently has left me and a large section of society deeply hurt”. “We will take Bihar out of “Bimaru” tag in the next five years by economic development like in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan”. Was that “Mangal Raj” in Gujarat, if Bihar had a Jungle Raj?

“The Prime Minister first pointed fingers at Bihar’s DNA, now he called the state “sick” (‘BIMARU’)”, Kumar said.

Modi is leading the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for the upcoming elections in Bihar.

Nitish has made the DNA remark the crux of his campaign against Modi, hyping it up as “humiliation of Bihari pride”.

Yadav also criticised Modi for the appointment of BJP leader Ramnath Kovind as governor of poll-bound Bihar, adding that it would damage the federal structure of the country.